The Sex Lives of Cannibals follows Troost to Tarawa, a remote island in the Kiribati Republic. Expecting a tropical Eden, the author finds himself in what looks like a pilot for Survivor. After battling intense heat, polluted water, unusual sanitation practices, toxic fish, crazy natives and non-natives alike, and corrupt government officials, Troost returns to the States-and to his beloved coffee and beer-only to find life in the U.S. a bit stifling.

Fadiman's first essay collection is one of my all-time favorite books. This, in itself, is amazing because in high school I found essay-reading to be, in Ms. Fadiman's words, a complete snore. I avoided essays like the plague. Then I caught the Fadiman bug: I discovered Ex Libris and now, to my great delight, her latest, At Large and At Small.